蜻蜓
qīng​tíng

dragonfly

蜻 qīng dragonfly

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 青 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
青
青 Sound component
qīng green or blue

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔsleŋ
sʰleːŋ
Unicodetseng

說文解字

蜻蛚也。从虫青聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蜓 tíng dragonfly

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 廷 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
廷
廷 Sound component
tíng court

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangl'eːnʔ
l'eːŋ
l'eːŋʔ

說文解字

蝘蜓也。从虫廷聲。一曰螾蜓。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)